Actually some school students were representing Chiba with the boat float last weekend. I'll have to see if there are any good pics of that.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Houston International Festival
Um, it's possible I might be a tad bit late in posting this :) ... but this is the second and last weekend for the International Festival (I-Fest). See official site. Great food and performances galore. I probably won't make it, but if you do I hope you have a great time meeting new friends and enjoying life in Houston!
Actually some school students were representing Chiba with the boat float last weekend. I'll have to see if there are any good pics of that.
Actually some school students were representing Chiba with the boat float last weekend. I'll have to see if there are any good pics of that.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Happy San Jacinto Day!
Be sure to come by the San Jacinto Monument today for the historical reenactment of the Battle of San Jacinto, where the Republic of Texas won its freedom. Fun for the whole family and lots of good souvenir finds to boot. 2012 San Jacinto Festival . Here are some of my pics:
If you missed it, don't worry there are some similar reenactments at George Ranch in October for "Texian Market Days." See also the official website.
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| History seems to repeat itself. |
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| Awesome tailgate party |
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| See y'all next year! |
Friday, April 6, 2012
Happy Good Friday & Easter
"He is Risen!"
Herein, a quickly combobuled and extremely long-winded Easter essay (it was originally just going to be nice and bite-sized in two pages). Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. Well, maybe not the footnotes part.
Why Does Easter Matter?
Or, Surprised by Hope in Springtime
“Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.” – Martin Luther
Right now I’m watching the apple-green trees lift and sway with gusto as the slyphic wind sweeps through our neighborhood. (As well as coating my car in histamine-inducing pixie dust plumes of pollen.) The songbirds are all a-twitter, floating heady with the billowing branches; squirrels are scampering about, frisking and frolicking. Along the highway and roadsides and lush meadows in Texas, just when they think we’re not looking, cascades of bluebonnets are peering out here, there, and everywhere. Peaseblossoms and tanaquills too, beaming bright and glorious, telling us springtime is in full bloom.
People walk about glassy-eyed and day-dreaming, blinking in the warm sunshine, slow to take in all the pleroma of greenery. I’m reminded that elsewhere, those confined indoors, suffering from sickness and old age, struggle to keep pace with the transition - the decrepit hand slowly raising itself to the windowsill to see the cherry blossoms in the garden in magnificent bridal array.
Like the joyful tidings of Christmastime for all peoples (Luke 2:10), the hope of Easter Sunday marks the other great monumental hinge of history – when all the world began to feel the rush of wind carrying the message of new life. Let us take a look together at some of that history, together with the symbols and significance of Easter.
From Egypt to Israel to England…
Easter wasn’t always called Easter. The origin of the festival comes from the story of the Jewish Passover (or Paschal Seder). The Most High God, identifying Himself as both the Self-Sustaining God of the Universe and the ancestral God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (see Luke 20:37-38), had adopted the Jewish people to be His own special chosen people or “firstborn son” representing a community of God on earth. But for hundreds of years He allowed the Egyptians to keep them in bondage and unable to worship Him.
Finally, God showed the might of His power by rescuing them from the ruler and gods of Egypt (Exodus 12:12), destroying their nation in order to free the Jews. The Jews were spared because of a special instruction God told them to do: to smear the doorposts of their houses with the blood of a lamb as a sign of protection for their families. Additionally for us, the story of the Passover illustrates how God works to liberate His people from slavery to sin and idolatry, which is represented by Egypt.
All this happened around 1446 B.C. Later, when Jesus came down into the world, He was declared to be “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). In celebrating the Passover meal the night before His death, He raised a cup of wine and declared, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). In this way, Jesus became the true Passover lamb (1 Cor 5:7) sacrificed and punished by God in our place for all of our wrong-doing.
And then, just as Jesus promised, three days later He rose victorious from the grave, demonstrating God’s acceptance of His sacrifice. So Jesus fulfilled the meaning of the Passover meal as a celebration of his death and resurrection we call The Lord’s Supper. The fact that his tomb is empty and he appeared victoriously afterward to his disciples has world-changing implications – which we Christians celebrate with all of our heart each April.
Now how did we get from the empty tomb to this modern holiday with bunnies and eggs? When Christianity reached England, the symbols and practices of pagan Spring festivals dedicated to Ēostre, the Germanic pagan goddess of Spring and fertility (think bunnies) and the dawn (i.e., the east) began to be absorbed into the Spring celebration of the Resurrection of Christ.1 (Though some see a connection to the German word for resurrection—auferstehung).2 At any rate, Ēostre faded away into obscurity as Christ supersedes all things Spring-related.
Symbols of the Story
I used to think the Christian celebration of the Resurrection had quite a different symbolism than of today’s chocolate bunnies and colored eggs of medieval times. I’ve come to find the folk custom of decorating eggs at springtime was fairly common around the ancient world. The egg as a creation or fertility symbol dates back to our earliest stories. I’ll list a few.3
Among the Egyptians, an egg is the source of the sun or solar deities; in India, likewise in the Chandogya Upanishad, the world or universe was created as an egg called the hiranyagarbha. Two founders of Korean kingdoms, Chumong and Hyokkose both came from eggs. The Nihongi records that in Japanese mythology Heaven and Earth were at first formless and unseparated, like an egg.
In China, it was P'an Ku who emerged from the world egg, as well as T’ang, founder of the Shang Dynasty. Giving red eggs is also associated with Xi Wangmu and Tin Hau (天后), sort of Heavenly Queens – you might think of Ishtar or Catholic Mary or Amaterasu. But the custom would have predated those ‘goddesses’ by thousands of years. Even today, painted eggs (红鸡蛋) are exchanged on birthdays – such as a red egg and ginger party for a one-month old baby – and at New Years, Chinese would eat eggs as a charm against sickness and evil spirits.
Sometime after A.D. 70, the egg was incorporated into the Jewish Passover meal. Some Jews today observe the festival of Lag B’Omer with bonfires and the exchange of colored eggs on the thirty-third day between Passover and Pentecost. Also the celebration of Purim in Yemen incorporates painted eggs. In Persia, Muslims give each other red eggs at Ramadan.
Red eggs are exchanged by couples before marriage in Central and Eastern Europe, the color red in the Christian tradition representing not good luck or long life, but the blood of Christ. A child’s grave dating to around A.D. 320 was uncovered in Germany with two decorated eggs inside. In the first century A.D., Clement of Rome compared the Resurrection to the legend of the phoenix reborn (from its egg). From then on, the phoenix, usually associated with China, became an early symbol of Christianity. The natural parallel being that Christ came up from the grave like a bird from its shell.
Besides eggs, the other main Christian symbol used to celebrate the holiday is the Easter Lily (Lilium longiflorum; 鉄砲百合), which is native to Japan. Similar to painted eggs, the Easter Lily has plenty of embellished (and I think unimaginative) apocryphal stories. For our purposes, we simply need to remember the whiteness symbolizing the purity of Christ and the shape of the petals resembling a trumpet, like the one that will herald the return of Jesus to judge the earth (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
Putting the ‘East’ back into Easter
“It seems that the Good News was already preached there but that its light first dimmed because of their sins and false teachings.” – Francis Xavier 4
Unfortunately, people often tend to brand Jesus as a “Western god” and Christianity as a “Western religion.” But they don’t know their history too well. Christianity started as a Jewish movement in the Middle East, with its roots going back to Abraham, and before that with Noah, who is the common ancestor of all the peoples of the world. Noah, who is your ancestor and mine, worshipped the Most High God. The ancient Chinese, for example, worshipped Him in olden times as ShangDi (上帝), the Heavenly King.5
In light of Easter’s connection to Oriental symbolism like the phoenix and lily, perhaps I should point out some chronology. Francis Xavier brought the parts of the gospel to the shores of Japan in 1549, about seventy years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. Before that, Nestorian (景教) or Assyrian missionary Alopen had brought at least some version of the message to Xi’an, China around A.D. 635 in the T’ang Dynasty. Not that this is the first entrance of the gospel to China, but the first government-recognized and, to a limited degree, sponsored movement. The Nestorian Stele or Monument is one of the majors testaments to the presence of "Keikyo" Christianity there. A replica of which was made for the head temple of the Shingon sect of Buddhism in Wakayama, whose founding, along with Jodo Shinshu, and Tendai, might have some roots in Keikyo.
If that seems like a wide gap of years between those countries, it probably is. Some guys think there’s evidence for a Christian community dating to the 800s or possibly 600s found in the Koryuji (広隆寺) Temple in Kyoto: a piece of the Gospel of Matthew preserved in Chinese. Others point to bas reliefs and stone carvings with biblical stories recording that the gospel reached China as early as A.D. 86 or perhaps the 60s during the Eastern Han Dynasty (A.D. 25-220).6 Keikyo Christians from the country of “Yuzuki” traveling the Silk Road evidently ended up in Nara Japan around A.D. 198 or A.D. 356. The evidence for much of this is rather circumstantial, so I would advise taking it with a grain of salt for now, but it's still rather curious.7 I’ve heard earlier numbers too, but regardless, the point stands. “Western religion” indeed.
So we’ve seen that Easter, similar to many holidays around the world, has had a complex history. It started from a Hebraic commemoration meal of freedom from the bondage of Egypt with a lamb’s blood over the door.
Then it was reformed around a Hebrew-Christian commemoration meal of Christ as our redemption from the wrath of God by Jesus’ blood, Jesus being the door and the sacrificial lamb (John 10), giving us freedom from the power of sin and death. Lastly, along the way, the Festival of the Resurrection took on various world-egg symbols and Spring customs that were common not only to the Germanic peoples, but to most ancient cultures. In reality, Christ is behind and above any symbols we could use for new life; he is personally at the center of creation, rebirth, and redemption of His people.
So What Does it Matter to Me and to You?
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” – C.S. Lewis
So what’s the significance of Easter? What’s the big deal for those in the East? What does the resurrection of Jesus matter to people in Japan?
The sunrise is not particular to just one country or land, but shared by all. So too the need for spiritual life in Jesus is also not confined to any particular nation and language. All men need to find a way to have a rock-solid, unquenchable hope that doesn’t disappoint in the midst of life’s storms. We need to lean and depend on Someone stronger than us. But even more than of all that, deep down all men need freedom from the guilt and shame of sin-stained lives. All men are under the curse of death.
When we stop and consider our offenses against the God Most High, Creator of Heaven and Earth, they are many and serious. Do you think your sin is something like some dirt that you can just as easily wash off your hands? Do you think all you have to be is say you’re sorry and try to be sincere about being better in the future? Does that work for criminals when they’re being sentenced in court?
This is the only question that matters. How can you rest until you find the answer to know what can wash away your sins? For dirty hands can’t clean a dirty heart. Only something clean can clean something dirty.
Last week a Korean student of mine lost her grandfather. As we talked about funeral customs, she wondered why at Christian funerals there is music and singing? Isn’t it inappropriate at such a time?
I answered that we Christians die with a smile on our faces and our families do not mourn as those that have no hope, because when we give our lives to Jesus, He gives us the joyful assurance of being allowed into the Kingdom of His Heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Our life is intrinsically tied to His (John 14:19; 2 Corinthians 4:14; Romans 6:8). So why would be have any need to fear? We have everything to gain in death (Philippians 1:21).
The other day in class, a student from Turkey asked me if I believed in the Resurrection of Jesus. On the one hand, I was pleased that she asked it, but I also wondered about how she could ever consider such an idea. I mean, how could I be a Christian and not believe in a living savior (besides the elementary matter of its historically attestation)? It’d be like a man claiming to be married for many years, but somehow being unable to describe his wife or recognize her face or voice; furthermore he has no ring, and the court records have no such filing. It’s a contradiction in terms. Such a man has no marriage relationship. And such a person who thinks of the resurrection in only impersonal or historical terms and has never met Jesus himself is in no way a Christian.
Furthermore, if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then who is it that has been going around for thousands of years appearing to people and changing their lives? People like Mary, Peter, John, Thomas, Stephen, Paul, beside countless Christians down the ages – and me.
I say again, who is it that’s been speaking to me all these years (who sounds rather like Jesus in the Bible)?
By definition, there’s no tension or difficulty for the true Christian to ‘believe in’ or intellectually assent to the resurrection – how could there be? One might as well ask if I believed that my mother existed. Yes, I know it quite well; there she is in the next room. In the same way, I know very well that the resurrection is true in my own life: when I was five years old, He gave my spirit new life to know and follow Him.
On a purely logical level, as Paul the Apostle said, if Jesus did not literally rise bodily from the dead, then the gospel is empty and useless and a lie, He was not the Messiah He said He was, Christianity is a wicked sham, there is no holy and acceptable substitute for us, and we are all still left helpless, cursed in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:12-22).
Because He is Risen…
-Because the Lord Jesus died a cursed death outside of Jerusalem and then rose from the grave on that Sunday morning 2,000 years ago, everything that He claimed is vindicated and proven to the true. Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God (Romans 1:4; John 2:18-22; Matthew 16:21-22; 17:22-23; 26:31-32; Mark 9:9-10)
-Because He is risen, all your sins against God can be forgiven through His sacrifice (Colossians 2:12-15, etc.).
-Because He is risen, you can be turn away from idols and be spared from the coming wrath of God (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).
-Because He is risen, He can clothe you with His righteousness, share that resurrection life with you, so that you too can be raised up and granted entrance into the Kingdom of His Heaven (2 Corinthians 4:14).
-Because His is risen, He can give you the power to overcome all the temptations and traps that would keep you enslaved to evil desires, and a steadfast hope and joy and peace in the face of doubt, uncertainty, and fear in life (Romans 1:4; Romans 6:3-11; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Timothy 2:11-13).
-Because He is risen, He will judge all the world, as Lord of the living and dead, that does not receive Him as King (Acts 17:31; Romans 14:8–12).
-Because His is risen, He deserves all of our honor and glory and obedience and devotion and worship and praise and thanksgiving. He gave His life’s blood to purchase us. Now all who have received Him, belong to Him forever (Revelation 4:11; Philippians 2:9-11).
The cosmic battle has been fought. Death and sin and evil are defeated. Jesus, the Almighty God, is the victorious champion. Until now you have be on the side of the army of sin, resisting the authority of God. Now the champion is near to punishing the rest of the defeated enemy, including you. But by giving His life to win the victory, He has done an astonishing thing. He has made the offer to any of the enemy free pardon and forgiveness and the chance to join His side.
When someone surrenders their heart to follow God, Jesus comes to sing our fears to rest. Our hurts and woundings, our tears and sorrows, our loneliness and emptiness, our hopeless failures, anxieties, and secret insecurities – Jesus has power over all of our brokenness (John 20:11-13; Revelation 21:4).
Are you beginning to see why Christ-followers get so excited about celebrating this “Feast of feasts, Celebration of celebrations”? Do you catch something of the anticipation? With the triumphant ringing of church bells, we also have the traditional greeting of the day: “Christ is risen!” and in reply: “He is risen indeed!”
“Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades" (Revelation 1:17-18).
But knowing these things makes no difference for you unless you personally surrender your old life to Him and experience His Resurrection for yourself. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).
Or, as they say in the East:
「このわたしが、死人を生き返らせ、もう一度いのちを与えるのです。わたしを信じる者は、たといほかの人と同じように死んでも、また生きるのです。わたしを信じて永遠のいのちを持っているからです。滅びることなど絶対にありません。このことを信じますか。」ヨハネの福音書 一一:２５-２６
__________________________
1 Coincidentally, the German version of my last name “Morgan” (Morgen) also comes from the word we have for “dawn” or “morning.” Does that mean I might be part Japanese?
2 An Ecclesiastical History to the Twentieth Year of the Reign of Constantine, 4th ed., trans. Christian F. Cruse (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1847).
3 See Venetia Newall’s “An Egg at Easter: A Folklore Study” or “Easter Eggs” in The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 80, No. 315 (Jan.- Mar., 1967), pp. 3-32. Or, “Easter Eggs” Folklore Vol. 79, No. 4 (Winter, 1968), pp. 257-278.
4 Hans Haas, Geschichte des Christentums in Japan. Tokyo: Ostasiatische Gesellschaft, 1902, Vol. 1, p. 299.
5 The Border Sacrifice goes back, some say, 4,000 years to Emperor Shun of the Xia Dynasty, as recorded in the Shu Jing (Book of History) and oracle bone inscriptions.
6 See Xuzhou Han Stone Carvings by Wu Liuhua (Beijing, Nov. 2001)
7 According to the “Shinsenshoujiroku” (新撰姓氏録), written in the 8th year of the 14th emperor Chuai (仲哀), Koman (巧満). The question being when exactly this was. See Ken Joseph’s Lost Identity. Kobunsha Paperbacks, 2005. Ken has amble amounts of historical conjecture, so one would have to be careful in analyzing his information.
Also, "Religious sites, relics indicate Christ beat Buddha to Japan" by Rob Gilhooly. (July 24, 2001): http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fv20010724a2.html
"Christ on the Silk Road: The Evidences of Nestorian Christianity in Ancient China" by Glen L. Thompson. (Apr 2007, Vol. 20, Issue 3): http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=20-03-030-f
Herein, a quickly combobuled and extremely long-winded Easter essay (it was originally just going to be nice and bite-sized in two pages). Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. Well, maybe not the footnotes part.
Why Does Easter Matter?
Or, Surprised by Hope in Springtime
“Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.” – Martin Luther
Right now I’m watching the apple-green trees lift and sway with gusto as the slyphic wind sweeps through our neighborhood. (As well as coating my car in histamine-inducing pixie dust plumes of pollen.) The songbirds are all a-twitter, floating heady with the billowing branches; squirrels are scampering about, frisking and frolicking. Along the highway and roadsides and lush meadows in Texas, just when they think we’re not looking, cascades of bluebonnets are peering out here, there, and everywhere. Peaseblossoms and tanaquills too, beaming bright and glorious, telling us springtime is in full bloom.
People walk about glassy-eyed and day-dreaming, blinking in the warm sunshine, slow to take in all the pleroma of greenery. I’m reminded that elsewhere, those confined indoors, suffering from sickness and old age, struggle to keep pace with the transition - the decrepit hand slowly raising itself to the windowsill to see the cherry blossoms in the garden in magnificent bridal array.
Like the joyful tidings of Christmastime for all peoples (Luke 2:10), the hope of Easter Sunday marks the other great monumental hinge of history – when all the world began to feel the rush of wind carrying the message of new life. Let us take a look together at some of that history, together with the symbols and significance of Easter.
From Egypt to Israel to England…
Easter wasn’t always called Easter. The origin of the festival comes from the story of the Jewish Passover (or Paschal Seder). The Most High God, identifying Himself as both the Self-Sustaining God of the Universe and the ancestral God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (see Luke 20:37-38), had adopted the Jewish people to be His own special chosen people or “firstborn son” representing a community of God on earth. But for hundreds of years He allowed the Egyptians to keep them in bondage and unable to worship Him.
Finally, God showed the might of His power by rescuing them from the ruler and gods of Egypt (Exodus 12:12), destroying their nation in order to free the Jews. The Jews were spared because of a special instruction God told them to do: to smear the doorposts of their houses with the blood of a lamb as a sign of protection for their families. Additionally for us, the story of the Passover illustrates how God works to liberate His people from slavery to sin and idolatry, which is represented by Egypt.
All this happened around 1446 B.C. Later, when Jesus came down into the world, He was declared to be “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). In celebrating the Passover meal the night before His death, He raised a cup of wine and declared, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). In this way, Jesus became the true Passover lamb (1 Cor 5:7) sacrificed and punished by God in our place for all of our wrong-doing.
 |
| "The Dream of the Rood" ©2007-2012 ~MrVisions |
Now how did we get from the empty tomb to this modern holiday with bunnies and eggs? When Christianity reached England, the symbols and practices of pagan Spring festivals dedicated to Ēostre, the Germanic pagan goddess of Spring and fertility (think bunnies) and the dawn (i.e., the east) began to be absorbed into the Spring celebration of the Resurrection of Christ.1 (Though some see a connection to the German word for resurrection—auferstehung).2 At any rate, Ēostre faded away into obscurity as Christ supersedes all things Spring-related.
Symbols of the Story
I used to think the Christian celebration of the Resurrection had quite a different symbolism than of today’s chocolate bunnies and colored eggs of medieval times. I’ve come to find the folk custom of decorating eggs at springtime was fairly common around the ancient world. The egg as a creation or fertility symbol dates back to our earliest stories. I’ll list a few.3
Among the Egyptians, an egg is the source of the sun or solar deities; in India, likewise in the Chandogya Upanishad, the world or universe was created as an egg called the hiranyagarbha. Two founders of Korean kingdoms, Chumong and Hyokkose both came from eggs. The Nihongi records that in Japanese mythology Heaven and Earth were at first formless and unseparated, like an egg.
In China, it was P'an Ku who emerged from the world egg, as well as T’ang, founder of the Shang Dynasty. Giving red eggs is also associated with Xi Wangmu and Tin Hau (天后), sort of Heavenly Queens – you might think of Ishtar or Catholic Mary or Amaterasu. But the custom would have predated those ‘goddesses’ by thousands of years. Even today, painted eggs (红鸡蛋) are exchanged on birthdays – such as a red egg and ginger party for a one-month old baby – and at New Years, Chinese would eat eggs as a charm against sickness and evil spirits.
Sometime after A.D. 70, the egg was incorporated into the Jewish Passover meal. Some Jews today observe the festival of Lag B’Omer with bonfires and the exchange of colored eggs on the thirty-third day between Passover and Pentecost. Also the celebration of Purim in Yemen incorporates painted eggs. In Persia, Muslims give each other red eggs at Ramadan.
Red eggs are exchanged by couples before marriage in Central and Eastern Europe, the color red in the Christian tradition representing not good luck or long life, but the blood of Christ. A child’s grave dating to around A.D. 320 was uncovered in Germany with two decorated eggs inside. In the first century A.D., Clement of Rome compared the Resurrection to the legend of the phoenix reborn (from its egg). From then on, the phoenix, usually associated with China, became an early symbol of Christianity. The natural parallel being that Christ came up from the grave like a bird from its shell.
Besides eggs, the other main Christian symbol used to celebrate the holiday is the Easter Lily (Lilium longiflorum; 鉄砲百合), which is native to Japan. Similar to painted eggs, the Easter Lily has plenty of embellished (and I think unimaginative) apocryphal stories. For our purposes, we simply need to remember the whiteness symbolizing the purity of Christ and the shape of the petals resembling a trumpet, like the one that will herald the return of Jesus to judge the earth (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
Putting the ‘East’ back into Easter
“It seems that the Good News was already preached there but that its light first dimmed because of their sins and false teachings.” – Francis Xavier 4
Unfortunately, people often tend to brand Jesus as a “Western god” and Christianity as a “Western religion.” But they don’t know their history too well. Christianity started as a Jewish movement in the Middle East, with its roots going back to Abraham, and before that with Noah, who is the common ancestor of all the peoples of the world. Noah, who is your ancestor and mine, worshipped the Most High God. The ancient Chinese, for example, worshipped Him in olden times as ShangDi (上帝), the Heavenly King.5
 |
| Not Americans |
If that seems like a wide gap of years between those countries, it probably is. Some guys think there’s evidence for a Christian community dating to the 800s or possibly 600s found in the Koryuji (広隆寺) Temple in Kyoto: a piece of the Gospel of Matthew preserved in Chinese. Others point to bas reliefs and stone carvings with biblical stories recording that the gospel reached China as early as A.D. 86 or perhaps the 60s during the Eastern Han Dynasty (A.D. 25-220).6 Keikyo Christians from the country of “Yuzuki” traveling the Silk Road evidently ended up in Nara Japan around A.D. 198 or A.D. 356. The evidence for much of this is rather circumstantial, so I would advise taking it with a grain of salt for now, but it's still rather curious.7 I’ve heard earlier numbers too, but regardless, the point stands. “Western religion” indeed.
 |
| Map of the Silk Road |
 | |
| Now what does that remind us of? (To Christians, a cross. To Japanese, 鳥居?) |
So What Does it Matter to Me and to You?
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” – C.S. Lewis
So what’s the significance of Easter? What’s the big deal for those in the East? What does the resurrection of Jesus matter to people in Japan?
The sunrise is not particular to just one country or land, but shared by all. So too the need for spiritual life in Jesus is also not confined to any particular nation and language. All men need to find a way to have a rock-solid, unquenchable hope that doesn’t disappoint in the midst of life’s storms. We need to lean and depend on Someone stronger than us. But even more than of all that, deep down all men need freedom from the guilt and shame of sin-stained lives. All men are under the curse of death.
When we stop and consider our offenses against the God Most High, Creator of Heaven and Earth, they are many and serious. Do you think your sin is something like some dirt that you can just as easily wash off your hands? Do you think all you have to be is say you’re sorry and try to be sincere about being better in the future? Does that work for criminals when they’re being sentenced in court?
This is the only question that matters. How can you rest until you find the answer to know what can wash away your sins? For dirty hands can’t clean a dirty heart. Only something clean can clean something dirty.
Last week a Korean student of mine lost her grandfather. As we talked about funeral customs, she wondered why at Christian funerals there is music and singing? Isn’t it inappropriate at such a time?
I answered that we Christians die with a smile on our faces and our families do not mourn as those that have no hope, because when we give our lives to Jesus, He gives us the joyful assurance of being allowed into the Kingdom of His Heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Our life is intrinsically tied to His (John 14:19; 2 Corinthians 4:14; Romans 6:8). So why would be have any need to fear? We have everything to gain in death (Philippians 1:21).
“Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” -1 Peter 1:3God, in His great mercy, has sprinkled us with a clean conscience toward Him. In the substitutionary death and resurrection of Jesus, He has effected reconciliation between sinful man and holy God. We can enter His house, approach His presence, and enjoy relationship and fellowship with our Maker.
The other day in class, a student from Turkey asked me if I believed in the Resurrection of Jesus. On the one hand, I was pleased that she asked it, but I also wondered about how she could ever consider such an idea. I mean, how could I be a Christian and not believe in a living savior (besides the elementary matter of its historically attestation)? It’d be like a man claiming to be married for many years, but somehow being unable to describe his wife or recognize her face or voice; furthermore he has no ring, and the court records have no such filing. It’s a contradiction in terms. Such a man has no marriage relationship. And such a person who thinks of the resurrection in only impersonal or historical terms and has never met Jesus himself is in no way a Christian.
Furthermore, if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then who is it that has been going around for thousands of years appearing to people and changing their lives? People like Mary, Peter, John, Thomas, Stephen, Paul, beside countless Christians down the ages – and me.
I say again, who is it that’s been speaking to me all these years (who sounds rather like Jesus in the Bible)?
By definition, there’s no tension or difficulty for the true Christian to ‘believe in’ or intellectually assent to the resurrection – how could there be? One might as well ask if I believed that my mother existed. Yes, I know it quite well; there she is in the next room. In the same way, I know very well that the resurrection is true in my own life: when I was five years old, He gave my spirit new life to know and follow Him.
On a purely logical level, as Paul the Apostle said, if Jesus did not literally rise bodily from the dead, then the gospel is empty and useless and a lie, He was not the Messiah He said He was, Christianity is a wicked sham, there is no holy and acceptable substitute for us, and we are all still left helpless, cursed in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:12-22).
Because He is Risen…
“For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will…Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice” (John 5:21, 24-28).Jesus is full of everlasting life like a deep spring of cool, cool water. Like an ever-expanding balloon that never pops. Ever try to hold a balloon under water? Death could no more hold him down than the ocean could drown the sun. Jesus said that as the righteous one, he had power over life and death and then proved it. It was impossible for death to hold him in the grave. Now he stands as King of Heaven, unique in His resurrection, offering his righteous life as the cure to you and to me. The Festival of the Resurrection is the fulfillment of the Passover sacrifice.
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| Amaterasu, eat your heart out |
-Because He is risen, all your sins against God can be forgiven through His sacrifice (Colossians 2:12-15, etc.).
-Because He is risen, you can be turn away from idols and be spared from the coming wrath of God (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).
-Because He is risen, He can clothe you with His righteousness, share that resurrection life with you, so that you too can be raised up and granted entrance into the Kingdom of His Heaven (2 Corinthians 4:14).
-Because His is risen, He can give you the power to overcome all the temptations and traps that would keep you enslaved to evil desires, and a steadfast hope and joy and peace in the face of doubt, uncertainty, and fear in life (Romans 1:4; Romans 6:3-11; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Timothy 2:11-13).
-Because He is risen, He will judge all the world, as Lord of the living and dead, that does not receive Him as King (Acts 17:31; Romans 14:8–12).
-Because His is risen, He deserves all of our honor and glory and obedience and devotion and worship and praise and thanksgiving. He gave His life’s blood to purchase us. Now all who have received Him, belong to Him forever (Revelation 4:11; Philippians 2:9-11).
The cosmic battle has been fought. Death and sin and evil are defeated. Jesus, the Almighty God, is the victorious champion. Until now you have be on the side of the army of sin, resisting the authority of God. Now the champion is near to punishing the rest of the defeated enemy, including you. But by giving His life to win the victory, He has done an astonishing thing. He has made the offer to any of the enemy free pardon and forgiveness and the chance to join His side.
When someone surrenders their heart to follow God, Jesus comes to sing our fears to rest. Our hurts and woundings, our tears and sorrows, our loneliness and emptiness, our hopeless failures, anxieties, and secret insecurities – Jesus has power over all of our brokenness (John 20:11-13; Revelation 21:4).
Are you beginning to see why Christ-followers get so excited about celebrating this “Feast of feasts, Celebration of celebrations”? Do you catch something of the anticipation? With the triumphant ringing of church bells, we also have the traditional greeting of the day: “Christ is risen!” and in reply: “He is risen indeed!”
“Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades" (Revelation 1:17-18).
But knowing these things makes no difference for you unless you personally surrender your old life to Him and experience His Resurrection for yourself. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).
Or, as they say in the East:
「このわたしが、死人を生き返らせ、もう一度いのちを与えるのです。わたしを信じる者は、たといほかの人と同じように死んでも、また生きるのです。わたしを信じて永遠のいのちを持っているからです。滅びることなど絶対にありません。このことを信じますか。」ヨハネの福音書 一一:２５-２６
__________________________
1 Coincidentally, the German version of my last name “Morgan” (Morgen) also comes from the word we have for “dawn” or “morning.” Does that mean I might be part Japanese?
2 An Ecclesiastical History to the Twentieth Year of the Reign of Constantine, 4th ed., trans. Christian F. Cruse (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1847).
3 See Venetia Newall’s “An Egg at Easter: A Folklore Study” or “Easter Eggs” in The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 80, No. 315 (Jan.- Mar., 1967), pp. 3-32. Or, “Easter Eggs” Folklore Vol. 79, No. 4 (Winter, 1968), pp. 257-278.
4 Hans Haas, Geschichte des Christentums in Japan. Tokyo: Ostasiatische Gesellschaft, 1902, Vol. 1, p. 299.
5 The Border Sacrifice goes back, some say, 4,000 years to Emperor Shun of the Xia Dynasty, as recorded in the Shu Jing (Book of History) and oracle bone inscriptions.
6 See Xuzhou Han Stone Carvings by Wu Liuhua (Beijing, Nov. 2001)
7 According to the “Shinsenshoujiroku” (新撰姓氏録), written in the 8th year of the 14th emperor Chuai (仲哀), Koman (巧満). The question being when exactly this was. See Ken Joseph’s Lost Identity. Kobunsha Paperbacks, 2005. Ken has amble amounts of historical conjecture, so one would have to be careful in analyzing his information.
Also, "Religious sites, relics indicate Christ beat Buddha to Japan" by Rob Gilhooly. (July 24, 2001): http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fv20010724a2.html
"Christ on the Silk Road: The Evidences of Nestorian Christianity in Ancient China" by Glen L. Thompson. (Apr 2007, Vol. 20, Issue 3): http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=20-03-030-f
Monday, March 26, 2012
As if you didn't know, Japan Festival this weekend!
For all of you in the greater Houston area, don't forget to mark your calendars for this weekend: March 31st-April 1st, 11AM-5PM, is our annual Japan Festival in Hermann Park. Admission is free. Parking can be a challenge. I think last year there were around 25,000 people there. I usually just park in the neighborhood a few blocks to the north - no big deal. As usual, I'm on volunteer duty so as a bonus you can try to spot me and say hi. Just don't ask me why we allow steampunk cosplayers, 'cause I haven't a clue.
Our new Executive Director was interviewed about it recently:
For additional info, see: Japan Fest
In the meantime, enjoy some pics...
Our new Executive Director was interviewed about it recently:
For additional info, see: Japan Fest
In the meantime, enjoy some pics...
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| Kids are too cute - at least the ones I know. |
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| Notice the elegant juxtaposition of exotic Oriental charm and Western, ah, rotundity. |
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| World record tameshigiri - 2009, I think. |
Monday, March 19, 2012
Would you dare consider such prayer without sweat and tears?
If you'd like a Scripture-saturated prayer to use as a help in interceding for the people of Japan, may I suggest this video below? The only thing I would add is the reminder that approaching the throne of YHWH, the Most High God, is a sacred and matchless privilege for those who trust and obey Him. Even though this video has a lovely and serene musical accompaniment, I would advise you not to be lulled into any soft fuzziness - the spiritual strongholds to be waged against are quite real and quite deadly. You will need an iron persistency and determination to wrestle in this struggle in the heavenlies.
Might I quote some dear brothers on the subject:
"Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness." - Martin Luther
"The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit." (James 5:16-18)
"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us..." (Ephesians 3:20)
Might I quote some dear brothers on the subject:
"It is necessary to iterate and reiterate that prayer, as a mere habit, as a performance gone through by routine or in a professional way, is a dead and rotten thing." - E.M. Bounds
"Prayer in its highest form is agonizing soul sweat." - Leonard Ravenhill
"The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit." (James 5:16-18)
"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us..." (Ephesians 3:20)
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Another earthquake today | Business as usual in Japan
I woke up pretty early this morning and involuntarily listened to the radio on my alarm clock for a bit. I heard about the 5.7 magnitude quake off the coast of Chiba (Chiba City being a sister city to Houston) or 55 miles east of Tokyo - oh yeah, and Happy White Day!
Fortunately, no injuries have been reported yet. It reminded me of the hundreds of aftershocks (600 some?) last year from the infamous 3.11 quake (as in March 2011). Many of these things I talked about in our Japanese Bible group last March, but since this blog wasn't around back then I thought I'd mention post some of those thoughts up.
Of course there are tons of verses in the Bible that talk about earthquakes (Psalm 30:5-10; 60:1-3; 62:5-12; 82:5), especially the one I quoted a couple days ago on here from Isaiah 54:10. But the one that came to mind this morning was from Hebrews 12:25-29:
Are you without hope and meaning and knowledge of relationship with God in this world? How to enter the Kingdom of God is what Jesus came to proclaim to people like you and me all over the world (John 3; Matthew 4:17).
“The people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.”
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Again it says, Jesus traveled throughout the lands, teaching and proclaiming “the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them.” (Matthew 4:23-24)
Thinking through Questions and Answers on Suicide
The other day in my one-on-one tutoring I was talking to my adult students about the anniversary of 3.11. (Should I clarify? I mean, the Great East Japan Earthquake in Tohoku - 東日本大震災). Many of them are doctors and nurses. We reviewed vocabulary related to death and disasters (i.e. 'grieving', 'wreckage', etc.) and talked about what kind of things they are trained in when talking to trauma victims. One of the questions I wanted to ask them was if they could talk to one of the tsunami victims a day before 3.11, what would they say? What kind of life advice do you give someone who you know will die the next day? What kind of comfort or peace or security or joy could you possibly offer someone?
We also talked about whether they thought suicide was generally acceptable or not in Japanese culture these days. (In case you don't know, Japan has had an epidemic of some 30,000 suicides per year for quite a while). One of the students commented that she didn't think so. Then she told me that she thought the president of TEPCO (the somewhat devious Tokyo Electric Power Company in charge of the Fukushima power plant) probably wanted to commit suicide for his failures or inability to control or remedy the radiation problem, and that if she were him then she would have wanted to as well! So, I guess, it's not totally acceptable per se, but given the right circumstances people would still want to do it to escape from their overload of shame. I'm not sure I understand the cultural thinking about suicide yet very well, but maybe their evaluation comes more from an emotional and social or situational rather a moral perspective. (Just so you know, Confucianism and Buddhism offer some guidelines as far as filial piety and the like, but the ethical fabric of Shintoism is largely amoral; there is nothing akin to the Ten Commandments under-girding or informing the background of Shinto in society).
I asked another student what she thought happens after death and she responded reincarnation. I asked her then what she would say to someone contemplating suicide since the person would actually just be escaping the pain and suffering of his current situation and going on to the next bus station loop in the endless cycle of reincarnation - so in that case what would be wrong with self-murder/suicide? In fact, for anyone that's hurting or lonely or in constant pain, why not commit suicide and skip on to the next reincarnation? I wasn't asking it blithely. She didn't have an answer. Then she asked me what I would say. So I told her.
She thinks it's something worth studying and we'll be continuing the conversation together. What would you tell someone if they were thinking about committing suicide?
In Light of These Things, What Must We Do?
Around A.D. 30 or so, a high tower fell over in Jerusalem and killed several people. Jesus asked the people if they thought God basically toppled the tower to punish those specific people because they were more deserving of judgment than other people.
Jesus didn't have to speculate. He was the foremost theological expert on the issue since, you know, he is the Most High God, Creator of Heaven and Earth. His answer was that those people killed in the tragedy were not necessarily worse sinners than anyone else, but the clear lesson was still there: all people are sinners. All people have lived their life against God, resisting Him and rebelling against His authority in their own self-centered ways. Therefore, all people actually deserved the fate of those killed by the falling tower. The fact that only a few were killed should then be taken as a merciful warning to everyone else.
Jesus told them, “Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:4-5).
According to Jesus, this story tells us that any stupor of complacency or apathy or fatalism (無関心) we might have that "it won't happen to me" or that you won't have to think about death until many years down the road is a deception and a blindness. As C.S. Lewis put it, “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
"It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). All of us must reflect on these kind of disasters and ask ourselves: am I ready to die and stand before God? Has my life been clean and righteous for His eyes? How can I correct my life to live the right way for Him?
Gleanings from Japanese Festivals and What the Bible Says
God wrote the Bible to answer that very question. We need to turn away from our self-centered ways ("repent") and surrender our lives to God ("trust"). We must ask Him for the forgiveness and righteousness that He offers to provide for us in the sacrificial death of Jesus.
Washing our hands with water alone (みそぎ) cannot clean our filthy hearts, let alone give us new hearts. Our offense is deeper, more serious than that. Can a liar erase his lies by splashing water on his mouth?
Sin is like a blood disease, inherited from our first ancestors. The very roots of our family tree are infected with the curse. The pollution comes from the very head-stream of the river and flows all the way down to us. In reality, sin is not an impersonal or external "mistake" that can be brushed away so easily, like lint from your business suit. It is a personal heart-offense committed against a particular person: our Creator God. The only way purification (祓) can be made and the judgment of God can be escaped is by a comparable sacrifice of life for life.
In Japanese culture, the idea of substitutionary atonement can glimpsed or hinted at in various images during the purification and appeasement rituals of their festivals. In my article for Christmas 2011, I presented what some people have noticed about the Ontohsai Festival (御頭祭) at Suwa Taisha Shrine (諏訪大社) and its astonishing parallel to the story of the akedah of Isaac in Genesis 22. Of course, nearly all the events, the festivals, and typological heroes in the Old Testament are foreshadowing the divine "savior/hero/healing/cleansing/escape" offered in the Christ's self-sacrifice on the cross.
In the Doya Doya Festival in Osaka, two groups of men in loincloth compete for an amulet. In Hadaka Matsuri, an actual person is selected to separate and purify himself as the shin-otoko (God-man or spiritual man) and then run through the town naked while all the people try to touch him in order to transfer their sins onto him before he is ceremonially banished from the town. Leviticus 16 scapegoat anyone? (See Hebrews 13:12-13; 2 Corinthian 5:21; Galatians 3:13; Isaiah 53).
Another obvious example would be Oni-oi-shiki or Tsuinashiki (鬼追式 Driving out the devil ceremony) in Nara, precursors of Setsubun. At Yakushiji temple, people dressed up as demons run around with threatening torches until a priest symbolizing the Buddhist deity Bishamon (previously borrowed from another god in Hinduism) also known as Tamonten or Hososhi appears to drive them away. (Colossians 2:13-15, etc.)
During Oharae (大祓 the "Great Purification") a sort of national day of Atonement is conducted by Shinto priests on behalf of the country. Instead of the ceremony in Leviticus 16 though, Japan has two ceremonies, one in the winter (toshikoshi no harae) and one in summer (nagoshi no harae). For summertime a straw rope is used or for wintertime a huge bell is rung. Especially interesting is the custom of using a piece of wood or paper or even straw puppet (like a doll), writing or touching the sins and defilement and sickness of the nation onto it, and then throwing it into the river where it will be carried away out to sea (Micah 7:19). In the past, instead of dolls real human sacrifices would have been used.
The number of examples is nearly endless, but most are derivations of these common patterns. The truth is that inferior, imperfect, or incomplete substitutes won't work. And no amount of seasonal ceremonies, talismans, amulets, charms, good luck fortunes, wish-dolls, lucky arrows, protective dog statues, shamanist dances, wish-trees, food or child sacrifices, the waving of paper wands, pilgrimages, chanting, fingering beads, possession, oracles, waterfalls, offerings, incense, sincere self-effort and ascetic discipline, 頑張る, or vague prayers into the void will cleanse a man from his guilt and shame before a holy and righteous Creator God. It is obvious to us that by ourselves we are too weak and powerless and self-centered to make real change within our hearts and peace with Him.
Hope and True Life amidst Tragedy and Death
But here's the good news about Jesus. God showed His love for us in providing His own mediator/go-between/peacemaker in giving up His (perfect, sinless) Son Jesus as one sacrifice for the whole world to reconcile us back to Himself (Romans 5:1-11; John 1:29). Even after he changed me at the age of five, effectively bringing me into the love and eternal security of the family of God, I've had various struggles with sin (like all followers of Jesus), but now sin is no longer my master. Jesus has the power to replace my depression, loneliness, nihilism, bitterness, and unforgiveness with an ever-growing joy, selflessness, purpose, contentment, peace, and love in Him.
"Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Hebrews 9:22-26).
Jesus told a seeker, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). The idea of reincarnation (endless attempts of merely new physical birth, flesh to flesh) doesn't solve anything, not for the suicide and not for you and me. Only Jesus gives a new heart or a new spiritual life from above through His Holy Spirit.
There is an exceedingly great invitation and promise here. Like Jesus told his followers, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). This is the kind of peace-filled life that is ultimately unshakeable.
Fortunately, no injuries have been reported yet. It reminded me of the hundreds of aftershocks (600 some?) last year from the infamous 3.11 quake (as in March 2011). Many of these things I talked about in our Japanese Bible group last March, but since this blog wasn't around back then I thought I'd mention post some of those thoughts up.
Of course there are tons of verses in the Bible that talk about earthquakes (Psalm 30:5-10; 60:1-3; 62:5-12; 82:5), especially the one I quoted a couple days ago on here from Isaiah 54:10. But the one that came to mind this morning was from Hebrews 12:25-29:
See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”Clearly this is to be a dire warning and wake-up call (along with the invitation and comforting promise!) about the seriousness of the living God trying to speak to us and the difference between belonging to these two kingdoms. One is "shakeable" and the other is permanent and eternal.
Are you without hope and meaning and knowledge of relationship with God in this world? How to enter the Kingdom of God is what Jesus came to proclaim to people like you and me all over the world (John 3; Matthew 4:17).
“The people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.”
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Again it says, Jesus traveled throughout the lands, teaching and proclaiming “the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them.” (Matthew 4:23-24)
Thinking through Questions and Answers on Suicide
The other day in my one-on-one tutoring I was talking to my adult students about the anniversary of 3.11. (Should I clarify? I mean, the Great East Japan Earthquake in Tohoku - 東日本大震災). Many of them are doctors and nurses. We reviewed vocabulary related to death and disasters (i.e. 'grieving', 'wreckage', etc.) and talked about what kind of things they are trained in when talking to trauma victims. One of the questions I wanted to ask them was if they could talk to one of the tsunami victims a day before 3.11, what would they say? What kind of life advice do you give someone who you know will die the next day? What kind of comfort or peace or security or joy could you possibly offer someone?
We also talked about whether they thought suicide was generally acceptable or not in Japanese culture these days. (In case you don't know, Japan has had an epidemic of some 30,000 suicides per year for quite a while). One of the students commented that she didn't think so. Then she told me that she thought the president of TEPCO (the somewhat devious Tokyo Electric Power Company in charge of the Fukushima power plant) probably wanted to commit suicide for his failures or inability to control or remedy the radiation problem, and that if she were him then she would have wanted to as well! So, I guess, it's not totally acceptable per se, but given the right circumstances people would still want to do it to escape from their overload of shame. I'm not sure I understand the cultural thinking about suicide yet very well, but maybe their evaluation comes more from an emotional and social or situational rather a moral perspective. (Just so you know, Confucianism and Buddhism offer some guidelines as far as filial piety and the like, but the ethical fabric of Shintoism is largely amoral; there is nothing akin to the Ten Commandments under-girding or informing the background of Shinto in society).
I asked another student what she thought happens after death and she responded reincarnation. I asked her then what she would say to someone contemplating suicide since the person would actually just be escaping the pain and suffering of his current situation and going on to the next bus station loop in the endless cycle of reincarnation - so in that case what would be wrong with self-murder/suicide? In fact, for anyone that's hurting or lonely or in constant pain, why not commit suicide and skip on to the next reincarnation? I wasn't asking it blithely. She didn't have an answer. Then she asked me what I would say. So I told her.
She thinks it's something worth studying and we'll be continuing the conversation together. What would you tell someone if they were thinking about committing suicide?
In Light of These Things, What Must We Do?
Around A.D. 30 or so, a high tower fell over in Jerusalem and killed several people. Jesus asked the people if they thought God basically toppled the tower to punish those specific people because they were more deserving of judgment than other people.
Jesus didn't have to speculate. He was the foremost theological expert on the issue since, you know, he is the Most High God, Creator of Heaven and Earth. His answer was that those people killed in the tragedy were not necessarily worse sinners than anyone else, but the clear lesson was still there: all people are sinners. All people have lived their life against God, resisting Him and rebelling against His authority in their own self-centered ways. Therefore, all people actually deserved the fate of those killed by the falling tower. The fact that only a few were killed should then be taken as a merciful warning to everyone else.
Jesus told them, “Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:4-5).
According to Jesus, this story tells us that any stupor of complacency or apathy or fatalism (無関心) we might have that "it won't happen to me" or that you won't have to think about death until many years down the road is a deception and a blindness. As C.S. Lewis put it, “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
"It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). All of us must reflect on these kind of disasters and ask ourselves: am I ready to die and stand before God? Has my life been clean and righteous for His eyes? How can I correct my life to live the right way for Him?
Gleanings from Japanese Festivals and What the Bible Says
God wrote the Bible to answer that very question. We need to turn away from our self-centered ways ("repent") and surrender our lives to God ("trust"). We must ask Him for the forgiveness and righteousness that He offers to provide for us in the sacrificial death of Jesus.
Washing our hands with water alone (みそぎ) cannot clean our filthy hearts, let alone give us new hearts. Our offense is deeper, more serious than that. Can a liar erase his lies by splashing water on his mouth?
Sin is like a blood disease, inherited from our first ancestors. The very roots of our family tree are infected with the curse. The pollution comes from the very head-stream of the river and flows all the way down to us. In reality, sin is not an impersonal or external "mistake" that can be brushed away so easily, like lint from your business suit. It is a personal heart-offense committed against a particular person: our Creator God. The only way purification (祓) can be made and the judgment of God can be escaped is by a comparable sacrifice of life for life.
In Japanese culture, the idea of substitutionary atonement can glimpsed or hinted at in various images during the purification and appeasement rituals of their festivals. In my article for Christmas 2011, I presented what some people have noticed about the Ontohsai Festival (御頭祭) at Suwa Taisha Shrine (諏訪大社) and its astonishing parallel to the story of the akedah of Isaac in Genesis 22. Of course, nearly all the events, the festivals, and typological heroes in the Old Testament are foreshadowing the divine "savior/hero/healing/cleansing/escape" offered in the Christ's self-sacrifice on the cross.
In the Doya Doya Festival in Osaka, two groups of men in loincloth compete for an amulet. In Hadaka Matsuri, an actual person is selected to separate and purify himself as the shin-otoko (God-man or spiritual man) and then run through the town naked while all the people try to touch him in order to transfer their sins onto him before he is ceremonially banished from the town. Leviticus 16 scapegoat anyone? (See Hebrews 13:12-13; 2 Corinthian 5:21; Galatians 3:13; Isaiah 53).
Another obvious example would be Oni-oi-shiki or Tsuinashiki (鬼追式 Driving out the devil ceremony) in Nara, precursors of Setsubun. At Yakushiji temple, people dressed up as demons run around with threatening torches until a priest symbolizing the Buddhist deity Bishamon (previously borrowed from another god in Hinduism) also known as Tamonten or Hososhi appears to drive them away. (Colossians 2:13-15, etc.)
During Oharae (大祓 the "Great Purification") a sort of national day of Atonement is conducted by Shinto priests on behalf of the country. Instead of the ceremony in Leviticus 16 though, Japan has two ceremonies, one in the winter (toshikoshi no harae) and one in summer (nagoshi no harae). For summertime a straw rope is used or for wintertime a huge bell is rung. Especially interesting is the custom of using a piece of wood or paper or even straw puppet (like a doll), writing or touching the sins and defilement and sickness of the nation onto it, and then throwing it into the river where it will be carried away out to sea (Micah 7:19). In the past, instead of dolls real human sacrifices would have been used.
The number of examples is nearly endless, but most are derivations of these common patterns. The truth is that inferior, imperfect, or incomplete substitutes won't work. And no amount of seasonal ceremonies, talismans, amulets, charms, good luck fortunes, wish-dolls, lucky arrows, protective dog statues, shamanist dances, wish-trees, food or child sacrifices, the waving of paper wands, pilgrimages, chanting, fingering beads, possession, oracles, waterfalls, offerings, incense, sincere self-effort and ascetic discipline, 頑張る, or vague prayers into the void will cleanse a man from his guilt and shame before a holy and righteous Creator God. It is obvious to us that by ourselves we are too weak and powerless and self-centered to make real change within our hearts and peace with Him.
Hope and True Life amidst Tragedy and Death
But here's the good news about Jesus. God showed His love for us in providing His own mediator/go-between/peacemaker in giving up His (perfect, sinless) Son Jesus as one sacrifice for the whole world to reconcile us back to Himself (Romans 5:1-11; John 1:29). Even after he changed me at the age of five, effectively bringing me into the love and eternal security of the family of God, I've had various struggles with sin (like all followers of Jesus), but now sin is no longer my master. Jesus has the power to replace my depression, loneliness, nihilism, bitterness, and unforgiveness with an ever-growing joy, selflessness, purpose, contentment, peace, and love in Him.
"Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Hebrews 9:22-26).
Jesus told a seeker, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). The idea of reincarnation (endless attempts of merely new physical birth, flesh to flesh) doesn't solve anything, not for the suicide and not for you and me. Only Jesus gives a new heart or a new spiritual life from above through His Holy Spirit.
There is an exceedingly great invitation and promise here. Like Jesus told his followers, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). This is the kind of peace-filled life that is ultimately unshakeable.
Sumo cowboys
In case you missed it (or confused these guys for native Texans), we had some famous sumo wrestlers in the Houston the other day. My friend at the Menil was one of the guys who gave them a tour around the rodeo. I wonder how they liked our turkey legs.
See the Chronicle story below for more info.
See the Chronicle story below for more info.
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| Sumo cowboys |
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Remembering the 311 Great East Japan Earthquake (東北地方太平洋沖地震)
As I was watching a video Crash Japan posted recently on the recovery efforts on the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster (see "Hope Persists" Slideshow), I was wondering what I could share or relate to others on this anniversary. My heart is filled to overflowing with grief and good news. There is so much that could be said and so much that compels one to be silent.
For followers of Christ, there is much for us to be praying for. For those who do not know the new life with God that Christ offers (i.e., John 17:3; John 14:6), open your Bible. Call out to Him. Give me an e-mail and we can have coffee together to talk.
For now, I thought it best to simply bring to remembrance four passages I posted on Facebook a year ago. The Scriptures are as true today as they were then, and as they were thousands of years ago when they were first penned down. Listen! Open your heart to listen for the voice of Creator God, calling you to Himself for peace...
"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." - Psalm 46:1-3
神様は私たちの隠れ家、また力、そして苦難にあえぐ時の確実な助けです。 ですから、たとい全世界が吹っ飛び、山々が海に沈もうとも、こわがることはありません。 海よ、鳴りとどろき、白くあわ立つがよい。 山よ、激しく揺れ動くがよい。 詩 篇 四六:1-3
~~~
"Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed," says the Lord, who has compassion on you." - Isaiah 54:10
山々は動いて場所を変え、丘は消えてなくなっても、わたしの愛はおまえから離れない。 平安を与えるという約束を、どんなことがあっても破らない。 あなたを愛する神様は、きっぱり断言なさいます。 - イザヤの預言 五四１０
~~~
"He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” Jesus asked his disciples.
In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” - Luke 8:24-25
そこで、イエスはゆっくり起き上がると、「静まれっ！」と嵐に命じられました。 するとどうでしょう。 たちまち風も波もおさまり、何事もなかったかのように静かになりました。
イエスはおっしゃいました。 「ああ、あなたがたの信仰はどこにあるのですか。」弟子たちは驚くやら恐ろしいやらで、「なんてお方だろう。 風や波までが言うことを聞くとは！」とささやき合いました。
ルカの福音書八:24-25
~~~
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." - John 14:27
ところで、贈り物をあげましょう。そう、あなたがたの思いと心を安らかにしてあげる、それがわたしの贈り物です。わたしが与える平安は、この世が与える、 はかない平安とは比べものになりません。だから、どんな時にも、おろおろしたり、恐れたりしてはいけません。
~~~
The best the world can offer you is a counterfeit. The peace Jesus provides is unlike any other. Not a mere band-aid or biting of the tongue, but whole-hearted reconciling of enemies Jesus gives, starting first of all with a reconciliation to the Lord God, the King of Heaven and Earth, your Maker.
(For some essential truth stories: Psalm 139:1-18; Psalm 95:3-6; Psalm 95:4-6; Acts 17:16-34; Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 59:1-2; Romans 1:18-2:5; Colossians 1:21; James 4:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Romans 5:8-10; Mark 7:1-23; Isaiah 64:6; Matthew 8:1-3; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; John 4:4-42; John 8:12; Romans 10:9-13; Acts 2:38; Luke 24:46-47. Or view this convenient online link).
Oh friend, I plead with you. I know this blog entry is very short and incomplete and I won't be communicating all that I could were I talking to you in person. Seek Jesus and surrender to Him. He alone has power and authority over nature, over storms, over evil spirits, over sickness, over life and death, and over our offenses against God. He is faithful. He is true. You can trust Him with your life and with your eternal soul. I did and He has not failed to give me a new heart and to change me inside day by day until I see Him in the glory of the kingdom of His heaven.
I'll close with a basic gospel outline a group called OMF has:
Grace and peace,
Daniel
 |
| Some wreckage Phil Foxwell came across in Shichigahama: 主はわが道 (something like that?) |
For followers of Christ, there is much for us to be praying for. For those who do not know the new life with God that Christ offers (i.e., John 17:3; John 14:6), open your Bible. Call out to Him. Give me an e-mail and we can have coffee together to talk.
For now, I thought it best to simply bring to remembrance four passages I posted on Facebook a year ago. The Scriptures are as true today as they were then, and as they were thousands of years ago when they were first penned down. Listen! Open your heart to listen for the voice of Creator God, calling you to Himself for peace...
"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." - Psalm 46:1-3
神様は私たちの隠れ家、また力、そして苦難にあえぐ時の確実な助けです。 ですから、たとい全世界が吹っ飛び、山々が海に沈もうとも、こわがることはありません。 海よ、鳴りとどろき、白くあわ立つがよい。 山よ、激しく揺れ動くがよい。 詩 篇 四六:1-3
~~~
"Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed," says the Lord, who has compassion on you." - Isaiah 54:10
山々は動いて場所を変え、丘は消えてなくなっても、わたしの愛はおまえから離れない。 平安を与えるという約束を、どんなことがあっても破らない。 あなたを愛する神様は、きっぱり断言なさいます。 - イザヤの預言 五四１０
~~~
"He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” Jesus asked his disciples.
In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” - Luke 8:24-25
そこで、イエスはゆっくり起き上がると、「静まれっ！」と嵐に命じられました。 するとどうでしょう。 たちまち風も波もおさまり、何事もなかったかのように静かになりました。
イエスはおっしゃいました。 「ああ、あなたがたの信仰はどこにあるのですか。」弟子たちは驚くやら恐ろしいやらで、「なんてお方だろう。 風や波までが言うことを聞くとは！」とささやき合いました。
ルカの福音書八:24-25
~~~
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." - John 14:27
ところで、贈り物をあげましょう。そう、あなたがたの思いと心を安らかにしてあげる、それがわたしの贈り物です。わたしが与える平安は、この世が与える、 はかない平安とは比べものになりません。だから、どんな時にも、おろおろしたり、恐れたりしてはいけません。
~~~
The best the world can offer you is a counterfeit. The peace Jesus provides is unlike any other. Not a mere band-aid or biting of the tongue, but whole-hearted reconciling of enemies Jesus gives, starting first of all with a reconciliation to the Lord God, the King of Heaven and Earth, your Maker.
(For some essential truth stories: Psalm 139:1-18; Psalm 95:3-6; Psalm 95:4-6; Acts 17:16-34; Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 59:1-2; Romans 1:18-2:5; Colossians 1:21; James 4:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Romans 5:8-10; Mark 7:1-23; Isaiah 64:6; Matthew 8:1-3; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; John 4:4-42; John 8:12; Romans 10:9-13; Acts 2:38; Luke 24:46-47. Or view this convenient online link).
Oh friend, I plead with you. I know this blog entry is very short and incomplete and I won't be communicating all that I could were I talking to you in person. Seek Jesus and surrender to Him. He alone has power and authority over nature, over storms, over evil spirits, over sickness, over life and death, and over our offenses against God. He is faithful. He is true. You can trust Him with your life and with your eternal soul. I did and He has not failed to give me a new heart and to change me inside day by day until I see Him in the glory of the kingdom of His heaven.
I'll close with a basic gospel outline a group called OMF has:
The universe was created by the one true God. God also created us; he cares for us and wants us to know him and to follow him so our lives will be happy and blessed.For a resource in Japanese, I very much recommend this website here.
We have a problem. We are sinners. We are selfish, greedy, proud, jealous. These sins prevent us from knowing God and he will not listen to our prayers. Sin is a self-centered departure from God our Creator. In our separation from God, we are bound to our sin and covered with shame.
Through his death on the cross, Jesus Christ made it possible for us to be forgiven so we could experience God’s love and blessings.
If we believe in Jesus, that barrier of sin is removed and we can experience God’s blessings. He is our mediator or go-between. When we give our lives to Jesus, he gives us his spirit, God the Holy Spirit, to come inside of us, comfort us and clean us and enable us to have the power to live a pure life for him.
Grace and peace,
Daniel
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